“Something is coming.” As baleful shibboleths go it’s not quite Games of Thrones, and yet the phrase slithers through the first in a nine-part drama marking the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, distributing poison.
Murk is written into every moment of Fall of the Shah (30 January, 1.30pm) – especially when narrator Diana Rigg thin-lippedly reduces certain characters to bullet-points. (“Raptor face. For human rights. In Europe, at least.”) But most of this compulsive opening episode introduces us to President Jimmy Carter (Nathan Osgood), travelling to meet the Shah on Air Force One, idealistic and jetlagged, woozily dreaming of fish. “I would like to pray,” he tells an adviser (never a good sign in modern drama).
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
